It was like a dream come true and a mission impossible becoming possible. Winning a nationwide talent search contest using popularity votes over contestants coming from thickly populated provinces and cities is just like a dog barking at the moon.
Maasin City was able to show its solidarity and strength as a small city with a big heart by proving to the nation and the world that we can succeed against all odds. The capital city also motivated the interest of other towns of Southern Leyte and all other towns of the Diocese of Maasin up to Baybay, Leyte.
The Maasinhon Trio of Andrew Sanchez, Licinio Lolo and Bonifacio Salubre tried out for the ABS-CBN Pilipinas Got Talent. During the audition, they sang the famous Hadji Alejandro song Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika. Blending three voices together to produce a sweet melody plus live rendition of a hymn depicting the beauty of the Original Pilipino Music (OPM), convinced the three judges Kris Aquino, Aiai de las Alas, and Freddie M. Garcia (FMG).
“Yes, yes, yes” were the votes of the three jurors which gave the famous triumvirate a slot in the next phase called “The Judges’ Cull.” There were 187 talents from all over the country who entered the next round. But the judges had to select 36 semi-finalists only, 12 from each of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
The Maasinhon Trio was informed of the good news by FMG in Cebu City in a karaoke bar where they were singing. They were surprised to see the ABS-CBN chief talent scout who joined them in their singing spree and congratulated them for entering the semi-finals.
There were six batches of semi-finals, and the Trio was scheduled to perform in the fifth week on October 8, 2011 together with Wushu Discovery, Jeziel Dimagna-ong, Negros Dance Superstars, Philippine Dubstep, and Renagine Pepito.
They performed the famous Sharon Cuneta song Bituing Walang Ningning, giving emphasis to the melodious blending of their voices. The three judges gave optimistic comments on the Trio’s rendering of the song. If they will top the text and online voting of their batch, they don’t have to undergo the judges’ choice and will automatically join the finals.
Before the semi-finals, the Trio toured around Southern Leyte including western Leyte especially the campuses to campaign for text votes. We let them use our city bus and accompanied by some city hall employees.
They also visited parish priests asking for support from the church. The Trio originally did some songs in the churches during masses and weddings. At the start there were four of them, a quartet including Father Dodong Cordovez.
City hall employees including provincial employees, students and the general public converged at the City Gym to text for the Maasin City triumvirate. Other municipalities were also doing their text brigades. There is one common goal, to let Maasinhon Trio enter the finals so that Maasin City, Southern Leyte will be known nationwide.
On October 9, 2011, the text and online voting results was announced, Maasinhon Trio
topped the voting by a mile, garnering 52.33%. Renagine Pepito got 20.99% and also got the Judges’ choice to join the Grand Finals with the Trio. Jeziel Dimagna-ong had 14.60%, Negros Dance Superstars 6.57%, Philippine Dubstep 6.57% and Wushu Discovery 1.19%.
The next weekend, during the sixth and final batch of semi-finalists’ performance, Justine Bevier-look-alike Khalil Joseph Ramos got 53.2%. Ramos got a slightly higher percentage of votes than the Trio. Surely he was a threat to us, since the teenage singing sensation from Paranaque City has the looks, the voice and the influence to win the Grand Finals. Plus he had the sympathy of the youth and the domicile of a highly urbanized city and Metro Manila.
During the Grand Finals, the Trio sang Basil Valdez song Nais Ko. They were the second performer behind the first one El Gamma Penumbra, the theater group from Laguna who depicted tourism spots through their shadows. We had a public showing using big screen at the public stage at the city hall as we gathered around to support our own talents.
The next day was the gathering again at the City Gym by city, provincial and national employees, private sector and non-government organizations, students and teachers and the general public. This time, the business sector assisted us. The barangay officials too prodded their constituents to help in the text votes.
The Liga ng mga Barangay campaigned among the barangay folks. The Barangay Councilors’ League also worked on the kagawads to
support the texting for the Trio. The Sangguniang Kabataan also showed their votes through texting especially the students.
Teachers and DepEd family all throughout the province were also united to give Maasinhon Trio the needed boost. The Mayors of Southern Leyte enjoined their constituents to give all our support to the voting for the triumvirate.
Parish priests also supported including religious organizations. We also campaigned all firemen throughout the country to support Bonie Salubre, himself a fireman. Likewise Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative, Inc. (SOLECO) lobbied from the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives to support their employee Andrew Sanchez. Licinio Lolo worked at the Provincial Capitol where Gov.
Damian Mercado and Cong. Roger Mercado threw all their support.
Each spent his own money in texting or buying vote cards just to show to the whole country and to the whole world that we were united in giving the much needed vote for the Trio.
Maasin Cable Television kept showing the performances of the Maasinhon Trio on the community channel to campaign for more text votes. Maasinhons and Southern Leytenos all over the country and those of the foreign countries texted their votes and threw their support through online voting.
At 4:00 P.M. that Sunday, there were several vote cards arriving at the City Hall contributed by the barangay people and from the private
sector. We mobilized our encoders to vote using these cards online. Up to the last minute when voting had to be stopped, votes for the Trio kept counting.
But we could not determine who was leading at that time. All we know that the number one contestant’s votes were still increasing, but the number two contestant’s votes were also fast catching up, as flashed on TV. From 24-16% lead, the percentage went to 23-17% and the second spot kept trying to grab the lead.
Finally, hosts Luis Manzano and Billy Crawford declared that the voting has officially ended. Frankly, I was thinking that we were at number two, because of Khalil’s fame and influence.
Then came the announcement of the results by the judges. The top three winners were declared and Maasinhon Trio was called! It was followed by Khalil Joseph Ramos then the Bringas Brothers.
Then the official results were proclaimed. Third place went to Bringas Brothers. It was even more exciting this time. Then the grand winner has to be called and Kris handed over the result to FMG for him to read. Then FMG announced the grand winner for PGT3. Maasinhon Trio!
Shouts and cries broke all over Maasin City and all over the province and the diocese. The impossible happened. We beat all the odds! We had a celebration at the city hall. Beer and red wine
flowed. Cheers for Maasinhon trio! Cheers for Maasin City! Cheers for Diocese of Maasin! Cheers for Southern Leyte!
They could not believe they won and off stage they were hugged and kissed by their respective wives and children. Members of the Maasinhon sa Metro Manila gathered around them to congratulate the Trio for their rousing victory.
The Pride of Maasin City became PGT's first winner from the South as the first two champions Jovit Baldivino and Marcelito Pomoy both came from Luzon.
Maasinhon Trio harvested 22.59% of the votes, while Khalil got 18.64%. Bringas Brothers collected 14.03% of the votes. The rest came in this order: El Gamma Penumbra 8.05%, Synergy 7.27%, Sandugo Band 6.91%, Twin Divas 5.26%, Renagine Pepito 5.08%, Loverkada Kids 4.66%, Muriel Lomadilla 3.56%, Kiriko 2.52%, Lucky Twins 1.43%. The Trio romped away with the P 2,000,000 grand prize.
It was reported that there were few cheers in the Ynares Center in Antipolo City where the finals was held when the Maasinhon Trio won. Most of those who were around were either fans of Khalil or El Gamma.
The victory of the Trio resulted in a big controversy. Those who favored Khalil could not accept that their idol did not get the top prize. Supporters of El Gamma Penumbra and other contestants brought their sentiments over Facebook and all over the net.
Criticisms like Maasinhon Trio were old already, PGT winners were limited to singing and other talents were not given the chance to win, and compulsory vote among people of Maasin City and Southern Leyte. They were trending in the internet, particularly on Facebook.
Licinio, 44, Andrew, 40, and Bonifacio, 38 at that time, said they first felt uncomfortable competing against younger opponents in PGT3. But they have been singing together for 18 years and they gained self-confidence with that experience.
The contention of Maasinhon Trio fans is if you want your contestant to win, you should support them all the way and do all your best to vote using texting and online voting.
Khalil is one superstar potential because of his cute personality. El Gamma Penumbra had a very creative performance in their shadow based portrayal of Philippine tourist spots. All finalists were excellent performers. But the winner had to be decided by voting.
In her TV program “Kris TV,” Presidential sister Kris Aquino attributed the success of the Trio to the “leadership and unity” in Maasin City and Southern Leyte.
The Freemantle Media, the producer of PGT, and Got Talent International defended Maasinhon Trio against these criticisms and articulated that there were no rules being violated and confirmed the win of the Trio as legitimate.
It posted this statement on The Buzz: “Freemantle Media, one of the largest creators and producers of entertainment brands in the world, congratulates the Maasinhon Trio on winning the third series of ‘Pilipinas Got Talent.’ The Maasinhon Trio received the most votes in the final of the competition on 24th October 2011.”
The statement further said, “ABS-CBN followed the voting mechanisms as required by the format guidelines provided by Freemantle Media. The public vote is the sole determinant of the winner of ‘Pilipinas Got Talent.’ The judges’ role is to provide comment and advise to the contestants; and the voting mechanisms are similar to ones followed in other ‘Got Talent’ territories. The results were independently audited by Sycip, Gorres, Velayo and company (SGV & Co.).” PGT business unit head Alou Almaden said, “The rule of the program… and this is the international worldwide practice, is that, the winner is determined by texting and online votes. And I think that we really have to respect that.”
I was interviewed in the same edition of the Sunday TV program The Buzz. I declared that I campaigned vigorously all over Maasin City for all the people to support the Maasin pride. I just wanted to make our city known for tourism purposes and for economic benefits.
“Nanawagan ako sa mga tao, magtext tayo, bibili tayo ng vote cards para makaboto sa Maasinhon Trio. Nagkampanya lang po tayo. Ang atin lang ma-inspire, mai-promote ang Maasin City for tourism
purposes,” was my answer.
Licinio, Bonifacio and Andrew expressed their sentiment during the said program, saying they respected the people’s opinions. They just showed their best so the fans voted for them. And they reasoned out that all the 12 finalists were simply excellent performers.
“Sa mga bumabatikos, wala kaming hinanakit sa inyo dahil opinyon niyo iyan. Nirerespeto namin ang opinyon niyo. Ang challenge sa aming tatlo, ipapakita namin kung ano ang mayroon kami,” said Andrew Sanchez.
The Trio became guests in practically all programs of ABS-CBN like ASAP Rocks, Happy Yepey Yehey, Showtime, Umagang Kay Ganda, Entertainment Live, The Buzz, Gandang Gabi Vice, Kris TV and Kitchen Musical.
Most of the critics won’t be satisfied because they had their own favorite contestants. As the popular saying goes, it is very hard to please everybody. But the Maasinhons from all over the country and all over the world were very proud that Maasin City was placed on the map of the Philippine entertainment industry.
The prize they received amounted to the net amount of P1.6 million because of tax deduction. They gave P200,000 to the church for the carillon bell project of the cathedral, so they divided the remaining P1.4 million among themselves.
When they came home during the All Souls’ Day Celebration, we held a Grand Welcome including a thanksgiving mass, motorcade, and program and party at the plaza. Even if it rained, the weather did not prevent the crowd from trooping to the plaza for the free concert of the Trio.
Thousands joined us in the big celebration, with hundreds of vehicles lining up during the motorcade. Everyone of us showed our unequivocal support to the Maasinhon Trio whom we considered as our pride in the field of Filipino music.
Maasinhon Trio’s self-titled debut album was launched on July 21, 2013 on ABS-CBN'S ASAP18. Produced by Star Records and assisted by Maasinhons sa Metro Manila Inc., the album contained classic Pinoy love songs including "Kahit Isang Saglit," "Sana’y Ikaw Na Nga," "Hanggang," a medley of Rey Valera songs ("Kahit Maputi Na Ang Buhok Ko," "Kumusta Ka," "Pangako Sa’ Yo"), and their carrier single "Patuloy Ang Pangarap."
We attended ASAP live during the launching of the album and it was our first experience coming to ABS-CBN and joining the audience watching the famous noontime weekend show. Maasinhon Trio sang their songs and advertised their CD in the famous show viewed internationally through The Filipino Channel.
They also guested the following day in the morning show Umagang Kay Ganda to also promote their CD album.
The Maasinhon Trio sang during our Silver Wedding on June 18, 2013.
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